World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseWhile France and Poland were already locked in a military alliance since 1921, Britain had been reluctant to form such ties with nations of the continent, especially after the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany, fearing involvement with continental politics would create unfavorable feelings from Germany. While Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, and other politicians called for an alliance of surrounding nations to contain German aggression, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had been reluctant through the entire early German expansion phase. Although by 1939 even Chamberlain knew his appeasement policies were not working, he continued them. He did not change his policies until 25 Aug 1939 when he finally signed a military alliance with Poland under the Polish-British Common Defense Pact. But by then, such a pact was actually detrimental to Britain. Had this pact been signed even one year earlier, before the annexation of Sudetenland and the rest of Czechoslovakia, it would had created a near complete encirclement of Germany, making a military expansion extremely difficult for Germany. However, Chamberlain's decision to sign with Poland after Czechoslovakia meant Britain, along with France, were now both committed to protecting a nation where they had no common borders to. On top of that, Poland had no other allies near her; Polish-Russian relations were rather hostile, and Romania had a significant percentage of pro-German politicians. "This is the maddest single action this country has ever taken", exclaimed Churchill. Military historian Basil Liddell Hart further added that it "placed Britain's destiny in the hands of Poland's rulers, men of very dubious and unstable judgment." Alfred Duff Cooper, another anti-appeaser, noted in his diary that "[n]ever before in our history have we left in the hands of one of the smaller powers the decision whether or not Britain goes to war."